Adaptation Strategies To Climate Variability Used By Farming Households

Adaptation Strategies To Climate Variability Used By Farming Households

1.0 Overview

1.1 Background of the Study

With over 70% of non-oil exports and accounting for over 42% of Nigeria’s GDP, agriculture is one of the most significant sectors of the country’s economy. It meets more than 80% of the nation’s food demands. 90% of Nigerians who reside in rural areas work in agriculture, making up about 70% of the population. This suggests that the majority of Nigerians stand to benefit from the key sector of agriculture (Okolo, 2004). Although this sector contributes significantly to the overall economy, it has been critically challenged by a number of causes, the most significant of which are climate-related calamities including drought and flooding (Deressa, 2008). Udofia (2001) asserts that the terrifying impacts of climatic variability on the overall environment have taken on a global scope. Even though its impacts and the ecological and economic repercussions are clear to see, they don’t seem to have received the serious consideration they merit.

The statistical analysis of relevant quantities over timescales ranging from months to hundreds or millions of years is referred to as climate. According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO, 1992), the classical era is 30 years.Surface variables like temperature, precipitation, and wind are most frequently used to describe these values. Climate and weather are different in that climate is what you anticipate, whereas weather is what you experience. The phrase “climate variability” refers to the inherent properties of the climate that reveal themselves in the variations of the climate across time. Climate variability is described as “variations in the mean state and other statistics (such as standard deviations, the occurrence of extremes, etc.) of the climate on all temporal and spatial scales beyond that of individual weather events” by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2001). Using the same mathematical tools and research methodologies, this concept enables the management of climate change as a low frequency component of climate variability (Mertz and Stone, 2003). A local area’s comparative advantage in agriculture may increase or decrease depending on the climate.

A general decrease in crop productivity and a severe food shortfall could result from changes in soil water availability, an increase in climate volatility, climate extremes, and crop diseases. According to projections, agricultural production would have been significantly impacted by climate variability by the end of the twenty-first century (Slater et al 2007). Although it is impossible for humanity to accurately forecast what the upcoming season will bring, farmers, input suppliers, marketers, and the government all wish they could because it is essential for making decisions. Temperature, rainfall, and wind pattern uncertainty have been brought on by climate variability. Because of this, rural residents of nations like Nigeria, where agriculture is the primary occupation or economic activity, confront numerous difficulties while making decisions regarding their agricultural activities (Barnwal and Kotani, 2010).

According to Nyong, Adesina, and Osman-Elasha (2007), climate variability adaptation methods are those that help a person or a group deal with or adapt to the effects of a changing climate. Despite the fact that Zeirvogel et al. (2008) observed that the world has been going through a series of adaptations in response to climate variability, the current climate change is anticipated to bring about increased risk, novel combinations of risk, and possibly serious repercussions. As a result, policy options for reducing the negative effects of climate variability on farm productivity have been identified, including adaptation. In the face of shifting climatic and socioeconomic conditions, such as climate variability, extreme weather events like droughts and floods, and volatile short-term changes in local and large-scale markets, adaptation aids farmers in achieving their goals of food, income, and livelihood security (Kandlinkar and Risbey, 2000).

According to Kurukulasuriya and Mendelsohn (2008), one of the policy strategies to lessen the destructive effects of climatic variability is agricultural adaptation. When adaptation is fully adopted, Mendelsohn and Dinar showed in 1999 that there may be significant decreases in the negative effects of climate variability (FAO, 2007). Farmers can adapt their crop production by adopting effective environmental resource management techniques like planting early maturing crops, mulching, small-scale irrigation, choosing hardy crop varieties, planting trees, and staking them to prevent heat burns (Nyong, et al., 2007). In Nigeria, agricultural adaptation faces many difficulties. According to Nzeh and Eboh (2011), the main barrier to successful agricultural adaptation is likely a lack of awareness and information about climate variability. Other obstacles, according to Onyeneke and Madukwe (2010), include a lack of knowledge about suitable adaptation options, difficult market access, and a labor deficit in agriculture.

Apata et al. (2010) noted that capital, land, and labor serve as significant variables for dealing with adaptation, highlighting the fact that the absence of these factors as well as the selection of appropriate adaptive strategies form a serious barrier to agricultural adaptation. This is in line with a 2008 report by Deressa et al. that found that the necessity for intensive labor consumption increases the cost of adapting to climatic unpredictability. As a result, numerous adaptation techniques must be developed in order to deal with climate fluctuation. These tactics center on risk management, vulnerability reduction, increased agricultural productivity, environmental protection, and assuring sustainable development in light of climate change.

1.2 Definition of the Issue

Recent research supports the notion that due to its limited capacity for adaptation, Africa is one of the continents most susceptible to climatic unpredictability and change. There has been some adaptation to the current climate fluctuation, but this may not be enough to prepare for upcoming climate change (IPCC, 2007). The risk-averse farmer favors precautionary strategies that buffer against climatic change, particularly as a result of increased variability and extreme over activities that are more profitable on average, as a result of the uncertainty associated with climate variability deterring investment and adoption of agricultural technologies and market opportunities (Barrett et al., 2007). In instance, because of increased variability and extreme occurrences, it has been estimated that many African farmers may suffer net revenue losses as a result of climate change (TerrAfrica, 2009).

Food production in underdeveloped nations like Nigeria that have a low capacity to deal and adapt to these difficulties would be irreparably harmed by the negative effects of climatic variability, which include damage to arable lands, livelihoods, and biodiversity (Sha, Fischer van Velthuizen, 2009). An investigation of this kind will be a necessary intervention given the aforementioned difficulties. Numerous studies have been conducted to examine how Nigerian agriculture is impacted by climate variability. Few of these research, nevertheless, have completely addressed the problems with adaptation tactics. The difficulties of agricultural adaptation to climate change in Nigeria were examined by Enete and Amusa (2011), although the study was based on a survey of pertinent literature, leaving room for a more empirical approach to the study of this problem.In a different paper, Enete and Amusa (2011) made additional attempts to investigate the most affordable and sustainable indigenous climate change adaptation practices in South East Nigeria, but it doesn’t appear that studies covering larger areas, such as Nigeria’s agro-climatic zones and multiple arable crops at once, have yet been documented.

Umoh and Eketekpe (2010) made an effort to research wetland farmers’ efforts to adapt to climate change in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, although they only looked at Bayelsa out of the nine Niger Delta States. The study was restricted to one Local Government Area. Emaziye (2013)’s study was based on rural farming households’ perceptions of climate change in the Nigerian Niger Delta region in order to determine the direction of change of the climate change indicators, leaving a gap for empirical studies on adaptation, especially in Delta State where little to no work on adaptation strategies has been done. Previous research revealed that, particularly in Delta State, the dimensions of these metrics’ use had not been adequately studied. Given that farmers who are least able to adjust to climate fluctuation will suffer the most, this is seen to be crucial.

In light of this, the following research topics have been addressed in this study:

What socioeconomic traits distinguish crop farmers?

What do crop farmers think about climatic variability?

What adaptation techniques do farmers use to lessen the effects of climate change?

What socioeconomic and environmental factors affect the adaptation options that farmers choose?

What obstacles prevent farmers from coping with the effects of climate change?

Goals of the Study, Section 1.3

The study’s principal goal was to ascertain how Delta State producers of arable crops were adapting to climate change. The precise goals were to:

i) Describe the socioeconomic traits of the study area’s farmers who grow arable crops.

To what extent do farmers believe that crop production is impacted by climate variability?

(iii) Examine the adaptation strategies used by farmers of arable crops in the study area.

(iv).Identify the variables that affect the adaptation options selected by farmers.

(v) calculate the cost and profit of adaption strategies used by growers of arable crops.

Identify obstacles that prevent growers of arable crops from implementing adaptation techniques.